The women were residents of Gold Age Villa, an elderly care home in Loomis.

Investigators say they died after eating the soup that had been prepared by a caregiver at the facility.

Deputies say the caregiver picked wild mushrooms from a field that was on or near the facility.

"Whenever you get these button mushrooms, these little round ones, or the great big toad stools, you can't eat those. Those are poisonous. We cut them down here, " said Larry Newby, who lives next to the facility.

Deputies say the situation appears to be an accident.

Sheriff's Lt. Mark Reed said the caregiver who prepared the soup was among the six people sickened.

The conditions of the four people hospitalized were not immediately known, and their names have not been released.

Reed says after deputies were called to the facility Friday.

KCRA 3 reached out to the care facility.

Our calls were not returned.

The incident is being investigated by the California Department of Social Services, the agency that licenses senior care facilities.

From the web

Federal agents searched three dozen homes Tuesday in California during a crackdown on so-called maternity tourism operators who arrange for pregnant Chinese women to give birth in the U.S., where their babies automatically become American citizens.